Fire and Ice - Anne Stuart [100]
She lost her footing, her sprained ankle buckling beneath her, and she struck out at him, but he was too big, too strong. She felt him pick her up, carry her to the edge of the marble railing, and she knew she was going to end up smashed in a bloody puddle on the marble floor almost two flights down, and there was nothing she could do about it.
She kicked uselessly, she scratched at his face, but he was impervious, carrying her to the edge as if she were a sacrificial cow.
And then Reno reached them, and his headlong charge left all three of them sprawled on the hard stone stairs. Reno kicked at Kobayashi’s head, but the solid blow didn’t slow him down, any more than the follow-up hits to his neck and kidneys. Kobayashi was simply beyond feeling pain, and he was dragging Reno toward the railing along with Jilly, impervious.
He was hauling her across the marble steps, painfully, and she looked up at the huge man, clenched her hand into a fist and slammed it into his testicles.
Kobayashi let out a high-pitched squeal, momentarily taken off balance, releasing Jilly, and Reno took advantage, slamming his leg up high against Kobayashi’s head, again and again, until the big man fell across the wide stone railing, momentarily dazed, trapping Reno’s body beneath his, pinning him there.
Reno shoved, as hard as he could, but Kobayashi didn’t move, and the flames had spread down below, filling the stairwell, starting to eat their way up Lianne’s organic-grass stair runner.
“Get out of here!” Reno shouted, his voice muffled as he struggled with the huge man’s weight.
Jilly didn’t hesitate. She took a flying leap at them, and a moment later Kobayashi went over the side, landing on the marble floor two flights below with a sickeningly wet-sounding splat.
Blood was pouring down Reno’s head, and he was cradling his arm, but he managed to get to his feet. “Come on,” he said. “We have to get out of here.”
The flames had reached the bedrooms, billowing out of the open doorways above them, and the smoke was getting so thick she could barely see him. They hadn’t gotten this far only to burn to death. “You’re supposed to be the rescuer,” she said, choking on the thick smoke. “I don’t suppose you have any suggestions?”
“It’s your goddamned house,” he said in a raw voice. “You tell me.”
“Come on.” He was too busy cradling his arm with his other hand, and he couldn’t drag her and haul her anywhere. The blood was getting in his eyes, and she took a moment and tried to wipe some of it away. His blood, on her hand. Proof of life, she thought. They weren’t ready to die.
She went up the last few steps of the massive staircase, into the fiery heat, knowing he was following her. “Keep low,” he shouted at her, and she ducked as the smoke swirled overhead.
The only windows that opened in the house were those in her bedroom—Ralph and Lianne Lovitz preferred their air processed. The fire was just beginning to eat through the wallpaper on her bedroom wall, the awful girly stuff her mother had chosen, and she watched it go with mixed feelings. She headed for the casement windows, ready to shove them open when he stopped her.
“Wait,” he said, panting. “It could cause a backdraft and burn us to a cinder.”
“We don’t have any other choice,” she said. “The swimming pool is down below. If we can just jump out far enough, we’ll be okay. Otherwise we’ll both be dead, so we might as well go for it. Just answer me one question.”
“I’m not answering anything…”
“What did your grandfather say to me before he died.”
“You speak Japanese!” he snapped.
“I couldn’t hear him.”
“It doesn’t fucking matter.”
“What did he say?”
Exasperated, Reno ran his hand through his thick hair. “He said ‘Welcome to the family, Granddaughter,’” he snarled.
“In that case, maybe it’s worth living after all,” she said.
He moved away from her and shoved her door closed with his shoulder, cursing as it burned through the rough shirt. “That should slow it down.” He caught her hand in his, and shoved the casement windows, leaning over to look down at the pool below. He turned back,